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can someone explain to me how these things came to be? they look more like boxcars than hoppers. How do they work? (like why are they called Airslide) premium add-ons
They are lined with a fabric material. When unloading an airslide, pressurized air is connected to the car which then permeates that fabric lining allowing the contents to smoothly discharge.The design allows the car to be completely unloaded without any product "sticking" in the car.The most common use I have seen for these cars is hauling flour. Newer car designs have come along to replace the airslide. They look pretty much like a standard covered hopper, however they have piping connected to the hoppers instead of the normal gates. They also use air pressure assisted unloading.Best, Todd
Good info. Thanks. What, then, would be good circa dates for airslide hoppers? Are they still used at all? One of the hardest problems for me in activity design is knowing what sorts of rolling stock go with what time frames.Brad Meyer
Airslides were introduced in the late 60's or so, with most likely still in service.I still see plenty of them around, but they are being supplemented by the newer style car mentioned above.Hope this helps, Todd
Todd Actualy I belive the airslides were first introduced in the late 50's early 60's as I've seen Chicago Great Western airslides and the CGW got gobbled up by C&NW 7/1/68 though the older airslides had the open end framework
Thanks to you and Todd both. Is there any single published source that would have that sort of date information? I have gleaned much good info on this site but still have major holes in my knowledge. At the risk of seeming strage, I am not especially a rail fan. I enjoy the sim, enjoyed N scale when I did it, but don't know very much at all about prototypical operations. Brad Meyer
